Amara's Diary
by Krys Griffin
Summary: A monk girl's travels with a very strange group of... friends?
1. Chapter 1

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary –  
Is that what I should call you? I don't know… Traveler's Journal… Travnal… Dialer… Travary… bah… whatever.

I arrived at the port this morning, and bumped into a gnome in a red coat near the city gates. I don't know why he was wearing his coat inside out, but I decided not to mention it since he was so flustered. He begged me to go find his cufflinks he dropped in the woods and… not having anything better to do… I went to find them.

While looking for the path the gnome said I should use to back track his flight, I heard what sounded like an angry party of orcs heading towards the city so I tried to conceal myself in the bushes. It might have worked… had they really been orcs… it was a few humans, a dwarf, and a troll… on the road anyway. They demanded I come out of the bushes… not asked mind you… DEMANDED with promises of imminent death should I comply. I chose option three… RUN… didn't make it three steps before the other member of their party showed herself… some crazy cat thing dropped out of the trees on me.

They interrogated me… and I told them the truth… they didn't believe me…

They interrogated me… and I lied to them… they didn't believe me…

They interrogated me… and I didn't bother mentioning the huge spider dropping in on us… hey… I thought it might be a good enough distraction to let me slip away.

I found the cufflinks where the cat pinned me to the ground by the way... but events being what they were I think they're cursed to summon those huge spiders. I just want to find that gnome and be rid of them.


	2. Chapter 2

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary –  
That blasted gnome has disappeared… and no one seems to have ever seen him… this is truly annoying. Gordon… the dwarf… booked us passage to some city he's supposedly in the militia of… I just don't know. The signs yesterday morning bode ill for this trip… and this morning's are no better… but I do wonder what that star with the green aura in the sky was all about... I'm never heard of anything like that.

No longer having anything to delay departure, we set sail… yes even me… over my strenuous objections… and surprisingly the objections of Katharos (a human cleric in the group). Shraal being a god of the sea, the monks that raised me instilled a love of viewing the waves as I meditate and pray… on a ship the best places are either on the prow… or up in the Crow's Nest (that's my favorite)… but the Captain of this boat has other opinions of 'people like me' and the others seem to share his opinion. Why did they insist I come with them if they don't like me? I mean… I thwaped Arcus (the demanding wizard) on the head when he wasn't paying attention so I could prove a point to the others… it was a mistake and I apologized to him for it… but as with their interrogations… they didn't believe me. I think the only reason I chose to come with them is the gleam in Therisanna's eye at the possibility of eating me should I try to leave (I'm only half sure it wasn't an actual threat… but that leaves half of me thinking it was).

The crew gave us some dinner… rations of bread and water… but mine was… different than the others (some kind of weird sparkling topping) so I wrapped it and had some of my trail rations instead. Arcus swears it's harmless (he even cast a spell to check it) but I just don't know. The crew was acting strangely around me all day.


	3. Chapter 3

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary –  
There was something weird with that bread… far too sweet and there was an odd pill hidden inside… probably poison… but I'm not feeling anything yet so maybe it could only effect me if I actually swallowed it. Well… time to go see what the crew will try to kill me with next…


	4. Chapter 4

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary –  
Next time I mention someone trying to kill me flip back to this post… THEY TRIED TO KILL ME… well… us. The crew has been dead for quite some time and the Captain… let's just say he wasn't human anymore… and the stench he gave off made me really sick. Oh… before I forget to mention it… though it would likely show up in most of my posts from now on… I found this circlet while rummaging through the crew quarters… it was getting in the way so I put it on…

Next time I'm rummaging through things jump out of my backpack and flip open to this entry… NEVER TRY ANYTHING ON WITHOUT HAVING ARCUS CHECK IT OUT FIRST… this morning my happy go lucky self was short… only four feet tall… now I'm just over two feet… my shirt is hanging down to my knees like a dress. I'm still trying to figure out why Kat can't take his eyes off me and everyone looks at me like I'm nuts for not trying to strap these extremely oversized pants on me somehow… well… maybe I'm the only sane one in the group… this trips been enough to drive anyone mad.


	5. Chapter 5

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary –  
I can only guess at what was on the last three pages… my memory is very blurry for some reason… and someone's been kind enough to rip them out of you. There's an elf traveling with us now… an archer named Celade… she seems kind of nice. The mark's been itching again… but that might be because of this damn circlet… it still won't come off… and now my butt's ballooning (wonder when that started… but more importantly… I WANT TO KNOW HOW TO STOP IT… *sigh*). Since we haven't seen any spiders… and I mean ANY spiders… in a while (I had to ask since I don't actually know) I decided to try on those cufflinks the gnome sent me after. The things must be for training or something… they weigh a lot more when you put them on.


	6. Chapter 6

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary –  
Theri has it out for me… she keeps snatching stuff and playing with it just to torment me… I could have sworn she took the cufflinks and her butt ballooning like mine seemed hilarious… though not wanting to laugh at someone else's misfortunes I did try to keep it to myself. Evidently not well enough. Turns out Nera had the cufflinks, and swelled to immense proportions before my eyes. I spent half that night in prayer, silently asking for Shraal's guidance to see the truth and for this curse to be lifted… well… guidance came the next morning… when I mentioned that what I was seeing was probably all in my head. I guess that was good enough to activate the circlet and knock me unconscious.

I met "Albert" while I was out… he's a gnome wizard… no… not the gnome in the red coat… and not the "Gnosh" that Arcus asked about when I told him what I saw later (who ever that is)… the circlet was a joke made for one of his wizard pals. Anyway… long story short, Albert unlocked the powers of the thing so I can put it on and shrink to half size once a day… but gain three inches to my posterior to do so… he did say that the "growth" would dissipate in about a day… I took it off and no one's tried it on since.


	7. Chapter 7

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary –  
We entered munchkin-ville… seems the local wizard chose to bring everyone down to his own size. I had a hunch who the wizard might be after talking to one of the villagers… but as the others are not very diplomatically inclined… in other words they're prone to demand instead of ask… I decided it might be better to talk to one of them later after looking at the wizard's old lab out on the other side of town.

The "wizard" set up traps filled with an odd white powder… of which I collected two small samples to test and see if I could find anything to counter the swelling of… well… anyway… I then went back and talked to the villager again and the "Great High yada yada yada Lord Wizard" Alberto Dracovich is the name of the idiot in the tower about four miles outside town… seems Albert's even more full of himself than Arcus is… though Theri might still have him beat.

Well… back to what I was saying… I noticed when I pulled you out of my backpack this evening that the two packets of powder I stored in there a few hours ago are now no longer where I left them… only a few people could have known I had the stuff… even fewer have had an opportunity to "acquire" it from me… and only one that has tawny cat fur. All she had to do was ask… oh well… I'm going to head back over there in a few minutes to collect a few more samples. I'll go to the tailor's shop tomorrow morning to get a few alterations to my pants… these are starting to get a bit snug.


	8. Chapter 8

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary –

It figures… I step out to visit the tailor and temple… and they leave… yet when they come back, they act like it's all my fault… where's the logic in that? Anyway.

We paid a visit to Albert's Tower… that place was nuts… and I had no idea how barbaric the "intellectual" wizard and that cat girl really were. The door keeper asked a simple question, "Why are you here," and Arcus blew it up! Theri picked the lock on the back door… so I really didn't feel any pity for her getting doused by some weird gas Al had set for intruders. Celade was pretty quiet the whole time and surprisingly Katt wasn't even a bit perverted… maybe I am losing it like Theri thinks. Well… the entire place used magic on the doors… you never knew exactly what you would find when opening a door… but there was a magical sign that would tell you. That is if you consulted it after visiting a room and managed to avoid the roving guards. I really liked that orb… OH… the orb!

I saw a small red button on the sign… I pushed it… and the top of the sign blew up in little shreds of colored paper and this small silver orb dropped out. It was rather simple looking… ten numbers (0-9) encircled it, with three blue gems recessed on one side, and another red button on the other. Since door 275 was beside door 589 and the others wanted to go to the storage room and the lab (305 & 417 on the sign) and I wanted to check out the Library with Arcus… I pushed 942… nothing happened… I pushed the red button and the blue gems lit up… figuring I hadn't activated it yet… I pushed 942 again and as I did the numbers appeared in the blue gems… but then nothing happened… that is until I pushed the red button again and held on for dear life as I flew… yes flew… to the third floor balcony and directly to door 942. Arcus and I saw some truly disturbing drawings in there… so we left quickly for room 305. Long story, less long… I got some really nice blue gloves from the store room… and Theri got some boots… er… leg warmers… that saved her life a little while later… but I'll get to that in a minute. When we entered the storage room we were on the sixth floor… when we left we were back on the ground floor… weird huh… well… I punched in 4-1-7-red and flew up to the seventh floor… but instead of seeing a sign that read "Laboratory" it said "Gruesome and Painful Death" or some such. I decided to wait for the others to re-consult the sign first… because I didn't feel like trying the handle.

When we did get to the Lab there were three doors… "Danger!," "Closet," and "The Cure." Liar. "The Cure" opened up to a brick wall coated in that damn joke powder Al stuck in, on, under, around, over, EVERYTHING in that place. "Closet" was just that… with a rune covered broom. I jokingly said try the "Danger!" room… and Theri did… maybe I should learn to keep my mouth shut more. The room was a plain white box… probably nothing but powder… and this odd little rabbit… ooze… whatever… THING looked at us and squeaked. Theri slammed the door and relocked it… but that rab-oze was STRONG. After beating the door down, it went quiet as Arcus made stupid cooing noises at it… I mentioned wanting to break through the brick wall to see if Al had blocked off another room… and the rab-oze attacked me. It seemed to suck magical energy out of things… and was sensitive to sound… not really sure what happened during the fight but the rab-oze blew up in the end covering me with some rather strange goop. After wiping all of it, off I noticed that the effects of the joke powder had worn down considerably, so… I checked out the broom closet again… and while doing so (with the door closed) check to see if it could 'suck' any more powder out of me… sadly it just put it back. And of course… the others left while I was in the closet.

As I stepped out of the room to rejoin the others I almost ran into a guard… 0-0-0-red was the fastest thing I could enter… and not a place to ever revisit… 100 foot fall into Al's Powder with a deactivated orb. A few seconds after impact the orb reactivated… although only the red button worked while in that place… and upon pushing the red button I was instantly dropped… directly… on top of the guard-bot smashing it (almost to bits… which I did momentarily thereafter when it sparked as I picked it up by throwing it off the seventh floor balcony (it's really odd how often we wound up up there)).

The next room we went to was on the fourth floor I think… Katt barked numbers at me and made me lose my grip on the orb... I never even heard what the room was called. It had "molds" (according to Arcus) for making golems… well… while exploring Theri set off a trap giving the blind-sleepies to herself and both of the guys… go figure. By this time we had three guards roving around… Putz, Thumper, and Dingy… so we barricaded the door and called it a night (Theri has sharp claws… she cut my neck when I was only trying to help her... but it's not really her fault… all three of them were so deeply asleep nothing Cel or I could do would awaken them). I would have written this then… but I was too tired myself… though not from the gas.

The next morning Theri and Katt could see again… but it took a little while longer for Arcus to reacquire that ability… and Theri couldn't understand me and saw me as "transformed into a pig" … yuck… I don't even like pork (but I didn't say anything having learned firsthand what one of Al's prank spells can do to your head). Well… she knocked me aside and busted though the barricade, flung the door open and took a flying leap off the seventh floor balcony… if not for the b… er… leg warmers… that would have been it for her). Once we picked her up off the ground, we went to 9-9-9… the "Guest Lounge"… which happened to be right beside the stairs… on the ground floor. There we met Thumper (AKA Philbert) and old little Al. Al and I were having a pleasant little chat, and I'd almost convinced him to help the villagers and me... when the barbarians struck again… *SIGH* … Theri tackled and lifted the control amulet from him. Then Arcus got the amulet from Theri and put it on… so lord almighty barbarian wizard Arcus started threatening Al to "fix his wrong doings." Fed up with it all Al shouted something in gnomish and causes the whole building to shake, at which Theri once again tackles him so hard it knocked him flat out. The worst part of having a crazy, gnome speaking, "insanity hating," nut-ball of a cat-girl running around with you, is when she starts spouting the magic words to make the whole building shake… and in a building made of magic shaking tend to mess things up worse… especially in this case, as not even Al (once we woke him up) could get us back to where we were to begin with.

Katt went a little nuts at this point opening random doors to really random places, then started talking weird and ran off through a door… we told Arcus leave Thumper to keep the door open (but he didn't do that… he had Philbert follow along… stupid wizards). Katt… morphed into a wacky orange haired freak… led us on a merry ol' romp through a land that made absolutely no since at all… my old master would have loved it. Well… we all jumped off a cliff into a sea of lavender spikes and got ripped to shreds… but how then am I writing this entry… we survived? Actually yes… we awoke outside the tower just in time to see it implode.

Al's in his old workshop working to set the villagers back to normal… though he swears there's nothing that can be done for me… I'll just have to wait it out… for another week or so *sigh.* For once Theri and I are getting along (Yes I know… it surprised both of us too), and with Cel and Arcus nearby we're going to make sure Al gets some time to work in peace tonight.

Night, night Diary…


	9. Chapter 9

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary –

I hate the anniversary of my conception... what little I know of it is very unpleasant to think about... for some reason my father has a lot of influence over me on that day each year. When I was at the monastery, the monks helped keep me out of trouble but with all that's been going on lately this one kind of snuck up on me... he tried to have me poison everyone. Correction... he had me poison the milk... fortunately only one person was harmed by this and it wasn't anything lasting (note - NEVER eat/drink Al's white powder... touch effects are bad enough).

We left town shortly after that... with Al... and we were having a fairly nice time... until we came upon a broken wagon and odd tracks heading into some eerie woods. I'm not sure what I said to the guy we found there... but I think I pissed him off. At least I got him to let Katt go when he decided to kick the hell out of me. When I came to, we were surrounded by monsters and I HURT... well... since I'm writing this I guess you can tell I survived... the others came out of it in pretty good shape too.

I do have to wonder where Grumph and Gordon get off to whenever we get into a fight... Al too for that matter.


	10. Chapter 10

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary -

I met someone... scratch that...

I gave Al the circlet back when we reached Aurora City... but it didn't want to let go of me... Al cast some kind of spell and it went inert (he told me he had to remove his avatar from it as it had become semi-aware... whatever). Everything went okay until the next morning... now I know what those balloon animals parents buy their kids at festival feel like (as in I became one) and the circlet was back on my head again... AND PISSED. Once I got it calmed down enough to form words instead of just hissing, spitting, barking and growling... I sort of pieced together what it wanted.

Simply put... it wanted to be with me and didn't like Al all that much. Al did manage to erase his avatar... but it had become sufficiently self-aware... or maybe just bonded to me enough... that it can make choices and act in ways to get what it wants done. It finally agreed to let me have Al look at it, and try to fix the damage done to it the day before, while I was out shopping for new cloths and dye. He couldn't completely repair it... but now it's at least coherent enough to use complete sentences. We talked for a while... well... talked isn't really the right word... I heard it's words... it heard my thoughts... anyway... we CONVERSED for a while and I've decided to call her, Mercy... it never hurts to have a little Mercy on your side, right? Well... the odd thing is we can "talk" even when I don't have her on my head... have to be careful around the others though... they already think I'm nuts.

Gordon Nod-rog... what a name... Captain of the 14th whatever asked us to join his company. I don't know much about that kind of thing... but my journey can't end at Aurora City... Eastmark at least still lies in my path... but I would help him against the Orcish Armies if the chance came up. But... after Grumph ate the pillows... we've been booted from our last inn and are now at the Traveler's Inn (shrine) just outside town... even though Theri and I paid twice what the damages were.

I suppose that's all for now... good night Diary...


	11. Chapter 11

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Mercy Mercy…

I'm not sure what's come over her Diary… but she's asking some odd questions. How she ever got it into her mind that I was mad at her for what Al did when designing her is beyond me. True she did hold me hostage for a bit, but I'd just given her to Al the day before and he'd hurt her quite badly, she wasn't thinking very clearly at the time and I won't hold that against her.

Well… today's been weird. Arcus has a new friend, a large silver wolf named Moro… Theri hates it. Theri got a necklace back in Aurora City that turns her into a cat. Let me clarify that… she's a cat girl… tabinaxi or some such as she calls herself (I'd never seen any of them before)… but now she can turn into a cat similar to Katt's cat, Tigris. Mercy's introspective and remorseful. Katt's talking to Tigris all the time in mews and meows… and Tigris seems to understand him… quite strange.

Anyway I… (entry unfinished)


	12. Chapter 12

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary,

I… I don't know if I can write this down right now… but I'll try.

Nikias showed up in the middle of my watch last night. Dad must have increased his hold over him and Zoe since I left them. I think Moro was hurt the worst during the fight that happened because I refused to go back to my father. Nikias even said I could bring my slaves if I wanted… as if.

Well… after we beat my brother almost to death… I finally got the others to bind him instead of killing him outright. My brother and sister deserve a chance to change right? I did once my father didn't have complete control over me… and this journey I'm on is to seek a way to remove the rest of that control. But now…

Damn… I'm trying to write this impersonally but that just won't work… the tears are nearly blinding me as it is and my thoughts are so scattered nothing is coming out right… so I'll rush through this and maybe fill in the gaps later… if the pain ever lessens enough to think about it without crying.

Nikias is dead.

The spare eye patch the monks gave me just before I left on this journey helped… but the increase in power Dad put on Nikias and Zoe evidently was more than what the eye patch alone can handle. He pleaded with us to kill him before he lost what little control it gave him. He was my brother damn it… Ezio didn't deserve that, Nkechi and me either… I only hope we don't run into my sister before we find a way to break this damned curse. I don't think I could stand to fight her… but I'll have to. Dad will kill her if she lets me live… he'll kill me himself if he gets the chance… and anyone with me too. I can't let that happen... not if there's another way.

'Til next time…


	13. Chapter 13

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary -

Sorry about the delay... but things haven't been well the last couple of days. Let me start about where I left off...

The next morning I was... despondent... to say the least. Remember the creepy guy we met in the woods a while back that kicked the hell out of me? He showed up again with about forty of his minions and "invited" us to be his "guests" to see our "doom" firsthand. I'm not even sure what I was thinking... but I answered his questions and even got him to give me his name... Sergius. The others told me of a statue in a cave Cel was watching that had his face carved on it... though why someone would want to duplicate that visage I'm not sure.

Well... we went with Sergius to the meteor crash site in the mountains without too much resistance (and none on my part... unless you count random questions). Madera... Sergius' "True Mother" ...sounds horrible and worth opposing... my dad would love her... but... when we reached the crater... we met Barakat.

At easily twice my height (and probably as wide as I am tall) this purple skinned guy was really good looking... but still not a match for Katt. Barakat told Sergius off... eliminating the minions with a simple reprimand... of course Theri nearly got the rest of us in trouble by saying she and Moro were Arcus' slaves. Anyway... skipping ahead a little... Barakat's "True Mother" Madera sounds like a really nice person and worth getting to know... especially as Barakat used her power to clean the scars from Katt's head and neck and break the bond between me and my father.

That's probably the best thing that's happened to me in over two hundred years... I could feel my soul leap for joy... all the things I'd wanted but dreaded all my life were now possible without fear of my father's taint. Anyway... I was a little giddy that night and not wanting to look at anything but Katt. Strictly speaking Arcus is better looking... but I think it's the inner light and purity that Katt keeps hidden most of the time that is drawing me like a moth to a flame... I just hope neither of us wind up getting burned in the end.

I think Mercy was reading my thoughts all that time... because the next morning she played the cruelest prank possible on me. She made me think and feel like I was pregnant. After almost two hundred years of having my will taken away from me... having no choice in anything I did... and living in fear that at anytime what little freedom I'd gained could be taken away... her "prank" felt like rape. Not at first though... at first I had mixed feelings... happiness that something I had always wanted was happening... confusion that I didn't know who the father was... annoyance at the others for laughing at me yet again... anger at my father for raping me on my conception day (how could I be mad at the father of my child after all... when he had no clue the mind running my body wasn't me). Losing my virginity that way and not even getting to remember it would have been so wrong (for once I'm glad my father chose not to do something horrible to me)... but as the child I was carrying started to rapidly grow I began to wonder if Barakat had done something... even by accident... and started looking at Cel and Theri worried for them and how they would handle my current situation. Then Mercy revealed her "prank." I'm not sure "rape" is a strong enough term for how it made me feel.

I was mad at her... but she really doesn't know any better and was designed to play pranks and touch on the hidden faults of people to help them overcome their own short comings. Hopefully time will help her learn how to be kind... and let me get over this pain in my heart.

Well... I'm supposed to be watching for that undead bard that showed up a little while ago... Beauregard Smith III or some such... he's annoying but so far nearly harmless... well... at least Theri dodged the tombstone he threw at her.

'Til next time.

- PS -

It's great to be able to use both eyes again... but the change in the mark has me a little worried.


	14. Chapter 14

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary -

It's been nearly a week since my last entry... but it's really not my fault this time.

I know you remember how hard it was for me to start writing to you at first. Fits and starts with weeks between them sometimes… fortunately the Piran kept after me day after day to write. He kept telling me that it'd be good for my soul... he was right of course. I'm not sure I ever told you this, but my first diary entry was on my birthday... nearly a month after being imprisoned at the monastery.

I think my father sent me to Lorelei for two reasons... either to get the paladins to destroy it, and with it all that remains of my childhood and everything I'd loved before my father claimed us, as he'd told me to... or as I've come to think over the years... to be rid of me. Ezio's comments make me wonder though, that since I failed to die back then if perhaps he's gained interest in his willful, disobedient daughter... not that I'd ever go back to him.

Anyway... enough reminiscing... on with the history of the past's future...

The day after our last talk we reached the farm where that milk my father had me poison came from... it's odd really... considering what I know now that he'd had me poison the milk... but anyway (*forces mind to continue writing narrative instead of dithering*). The old couple that ran the place served us a wonderful dinner with some of that milk they were famous for. Even my father isn't as heartless as those people were. Why do I say that you ask? THEY TURNED US INTO COWS... yes cows... thus we became the source of that famous milk. And yes... "were" is the appropriate term for them... as most of them are past tense now.

Mercy was wonderful. The old lady who served us dinner... stole everything we had... but was vain enough to put Mercy on. I don't know "bovinese," or whatever cows speak, so communicating with the others was difficult, but Mercy, being perched on the thieving skull of that murderous hussy, got a real workout. I don't even want to contemplate the final dimensions that woman got to... but it made the barn creak and tremble… although both she and I are beginning to wonder if the power she has is influencing her too much… "power hungry" she called it… I certainly hope not.

Now I could say I'm scribbling this out with a pencil held firmly in my mouth... but I hate lying... the transformation was temporary (that is unless you had more of the potion... then it lasted longer... which is the fate of the previous "guests" at this farm).

Well... we'll be back to Aurora City tomorrow to sell off the loot from the farm... we're all still wondering about this green cow though (at first we thought she might be Grumph *mental shudder* ... but we found him later on).

I think I'll have a chat with Al about Mercy when we get back to town, I'm sure he'd be interested in her growth in power since we last talked.

'Til next time…


	15. Chapter 15

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary (part 3),

I wrote in "part 2" about leaving "part 1" with the Wizard Alberto "Al" Dracovich in Aurora City... unfortunately "part 2" won't be joining "part 1." Why 'unfortunate?' Because I wanted it to. Why not? Well... to understand that you'll have to know about the new people we now have with us.

Mercy is still with me... and has grown in power. We even swapped out once... the experience scared her a lot more than we've let the others know... so she's afraid of doing it again.

Katharos, whom I care for deeply, was called away from us. I hope to meet up with him again someday, but it's unlikely going to happen.

Therisanna... I miss her. We were never the best of friends, but towards the end we were becoming closer. Then she went and got herself killed... probably. There's a chance she could have survived what she did... but it's very unlikely.

Arcus is still a self-centred druid, but that Rabooze we picked up at Al's place seems to really like him... and he it. It's rather strange if you think about it, nature-boy liking something so UN-natural.

Celade the elf archer. She's still an odd one to try to figure out... she seems to side with Arcus and Ele all the time... even if she doesn't seem to understand why.

Who's 'Ele?' She's one of the new people... another elf and druid... guess that might explain Cel a bit, but it'd still annoying. Ele and I hardly ever agree, but maybe it's just our different approaches to things. Maybe one day she'll come to understand my way of thinking and I hers... it would certainly make life in camp easier.

Thorzak. He's a strange dwarf... I thought him evil when we met (he certainly likes killing enough) but he's grown on me some since then. I still don't trust him fully when it comes to morals, but he's been a stout companion and true to every word he's spoken.

My sister Zoe is with us now too... but Ele used a spell on her so instead of being a spinning, blade of death & destruction... she's a bunny rabbit... and when offered a chance to become human again... she turned it down.

And then there's the reason "part 2" no longer exists... Chiara. She showed up a couple of days ago. You have to have a little background knowledge... you see... Al sent us a magic card deck... Arcus, Cel, Thor, Ele, & I all pulled cards from it. I was leery of the deck at first, my father used his mistresses' power to make a few and when someone drew from it something... bad would happen... always. But after watching the results of the others' draws, I chose to do so as well. Well... nothing really bad happened (other than a curse being placed on me... and one of my dad's old buddies saying he wants to be my new play toy) but one of the cards I drew... summoned Chiara.

Chiara's an enigma wrapped in plate armor. I asked Thor to help her learn how to fight... and she has skills... but Mercy calls her an ungrateful brat. I think... where ever the god who made this particular deck of cards pulled her from... she was noble... used to having servants do the work for her. She's young enough yet to be trained out of that... but also rebellious from being spoiled all her life before now. She's bound to me somehow... and gets confused when we talk about some things... like how she came to be with us. I think her training would likely be better if Ele... with Cel and Arcus as back up puppets... would stop trying to interfere. I know the physical limits of the body, but am neither a healer nor solider as Chiara needs to learn from. Neither are any of the others except for Thor... although he's more used to dwarves understandably. I tried to point out that they wouldn't let a fighter train a druid... and ask why a druid was trying to train a fighter... but they seemed to ignore my question by simply saying that a druid "respects all life" or some such crap.

Ele even accused me of being a slave master! As if she even knew what that actually meant. My father was a slave master... Thor and I just hard on Chiara to get her past her past... then she orders her horse into a full out charge into a mass of undead without even one of us for back up... great lot of respect for the life of Amalthea that shows.

Grr... I knew I shouldn't have started "part 3" right now. I'll be back after I calm down a bit.

Okay... I'm a little calmer now... so I'll at least tell you what happened to "part 2." Chiara happened to it...

That girl has anger issues... I'm mad about the destruction of "part 2," but at least that's all the harm she caused with her wild attacks. Maybe I should take the glaive away and have her practice with just a weighted staff... but I'll ask Thor first. I'll summarize what was in "part 2" next time... but please forgive me if I accidentally leave some things out on purpose...

Well... until next time...


	16. Chapter 16

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Dear Diary,

Forget it... I'm not going to rewrite all the lost history I'd put in "part 2," but here are a few highlights.

Bakarat lied… Madera's blessing was a curse… although it muddied the link between me and my dad he eventually find a way through it. So I once again took up the eye patch, but I'm free of it once more now (Arcus made a wish on a Djinni to break the link between my father and me and my sister and my father). He also wished me to be prettier… and that worries me some… I didn't think he was interested in me at all… but that wish… I just don't know anymore.

Well… let me lay things out a bit clearer for you… (and semi-chronological too)…

After leaving "part 1" with Al... we found a hole in the ground by following Mercy's instructions... Fharlanghn and Shraal sent a representative to tell us how to cure the curse in us... evidently they are the ones that created Mercy, the soul in this circlet. After that we met a witch named Mary after she'd turned Katharos into a clam. The others all wanted to kill her and turn Katt back into a person, but after I'd read her diary, I knew a bit more about how she thought and when I tackled her with mirror images of myself (mostly to stop the others from attacking her), Mercy used one of her new touch abilities to let me read Mary's thoughts as I tried to convince her to turn Katt back into a man and to change her ways... longish story less long... she's now Al's apprentice or something back in Aurora City.

Not long after that Katharos was called away by Fharlanghn, I hope he's found a way to cleanse himself of that curse.

On our way to Ciamenta (I wish I knew how to spell that right... the elves are a bit picky about sharing with me for some reason... it's probably Ele's fault)... we came upon a villiage that was plagued by undead... turnes out my sister Zoe had been sent by our dear old dad to capture me and kill my friends... she nearly killed me and... that's when we lost Theri. We'd just started to get along too... I miss her.

C-Town is besieged by undead... although they don't seem to be interested in attacking it... they're just staring at it all the time. Oh well... the druids there sent us to get a orb from some ruins to the south... wouldn't you know it... my sister was there too. Well... in the end Cel got an UGLY mask that turns invisible when worn... Ele and my sister the rabbit are now friends (I still can't figure that one out either... if you ever do Diary let me know... [and if you ever tell me I know I've gone insane... which is probably what my dad wants of me right about now anyway]). We then took the orb, which contained a 'negative energy' elemental (I didn't even think they could exist on this plane... go figure), to the druids in C-Town, got ourselves cleansed of the curse.

We rested a few days after that, played with a deck of cards Al sent us (see previous entry), and are now on our way to some healing springs to the North of C-Town... seems the Shrine of Gozreh and the druids in C-Town want it checked out... which means something bad is either happening there or about to and we're headed straight into it. Oh well... such is the life of a monk serving a good deity when the evil ones really don't like you (or at least your father [a high servant of Urgathoa] doesn't...).

Ah well... time to turn in...

'Til next time...


	17. Chapter 17

Amara (-AKA- Amira & Akachi), Zoe (-AKA- Nkechi), Nikias (-AKA- Ezio) & Mercy are my own characters while the other characters in this "Diary" are the creations of their respective players for the DnD game we play… as the game is not finished yet… neither is this "Diary."  
"Dungeons & Dragons" and "Pathfinder" copyrights are held by their respective owners… not me.

Um... Okay... I hope Amara doesn't get mad at me for doing this when she wakes up...

Let's See...

Dear Diary (is that right?),

I don't feel the curse the card put on her any more... but Amara's been cursed by Madara again... which means I am too (when I'm in her and she's in my gem).

Oh right... all that was in Volume 2... guess I need to explain who I am then right?

I'm Mercy, Amara named me, and I'm the soul that was placed into the circlet she found. How am I writing in a diary if I'm just a soul? Amara and I can switch out, this is only the second time and it's still pretty scary (especially when we weren't planning to ever do it again). Chiara's looking at me funny, not that I can really blame her, she doesn't understand when I tell her I'm not Amara.

Anyway... Amara and Ele had a fight, I think it was Ele's comment on the "blessing of the spring" being "contaminated" or something... but her constant attacks on Amara and Thor's efforts to train Chiara probably had something to do with it too. You see, Amara was attempting to get the information they had been sent to obtain without scaring the people there and asked Ele to check on an elf that had been "cured of blindness" by the springs (Amara was trying to put the past behind them and use the talents of the others to best advantage, I think, but I'm not sure if anything will fix the rift between them now). Ele stormed off to check on the elf (poor guy) and Amara wondered away as well... when the curse from the card made her dizzy again. The next thing I know she's floating in the springs and acting giddy. I was trying to talk her out of the springs when she triggered the switch between us.

Does writing like this always give you a cramp in the hand? If so... why do people do it so much?

Well... I'm going to back Amara in her fight with Ele. I think I'll do Cyan... no... Fuchsia for my next hair color. Let's see what that weird anti-"nature-girl" will say about that?

Okay, brave face… time to go face the others. I so hope Amara wakes up soon.

Well... until next time, as Amara says,

Mercy


End file.
